Almost a year-and-a-half after its launch, today the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy led by Lieutenant Governor andGubernatorial hopeful Gavin Newsom, along with the ACLU and a team of law enforcement officials, activists, and academics, releases a “progress report” to detail key issues in anticipation of ballot measures that might legalize cannabis as soon as 2016.
Full Article:
http://sfist.com/2015/03/26/newsom-led_legal_policy_group_relea.php
Category: Cannabis News Corner
University of Mississippi Awarded $68.8 Million for Marijuana Cultivation, Studies
By Thomas H. Clarke | The Daily Chronic
The United States government is buying $68.6 million worth of marijuana from the University of Mississippi. Well, sort of.
On Monday, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) awarded the contract to the University of Mississippi, which has been the only producer of federal marijuana since 1968 and represents the only source of cannabis allowed for researchers who want to conduct Food and Drug Administration-approved tests on using marijuana for medical purposes..
The money will be used to fund a cannabis research lab at Ole Miss, and to increase cannabis production to at least 30,000 plants.
Full Article:
http://www.thedailychronic.net/2015/41791/university-mississippi-awarded-68-8-million-marijuana-cultivation-studies/
Marijuana legalization should be up to Louisiana voters, legislator says
By
A Louisiana legislator has proposed putting marijuana legalization to a statewide vote during the presidential election in 2016.
Rep. Dalton Honore, D-Baton Rouge, has filed legislation to put possession, distribution and dispensing of marijuana and its derivatives on the Louisiana ballot Nov. 8, 2016. Voters would be deciding on not only the presidential race, but also congressional seats that day as well.
Full Article:
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/03/marijuana_decriminalization_sh.html
Time 4 Hemp: Gatewood Galbraith & Jack Herer – Pharmaceutical Monopolies, Henry Ford’s Hemp Car
State Senate Committee Passes Improved Cannabis Oil Legislation
GLORIA TATUM
The Georgia Senate Health and Human Services Committee, after over four hours of testimony, finally passed an amended Senate version, similar to HB 1, with bipartisan support.
The bill provides immunity from prosecution in the State of Georgia for patients who use cannabis oil, up to five percent THC in the oil, who received a doctor’s prescription and are registered with the State.
Full Article:
http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/03/21/state-senate-committee-passes-improved-cannabis-oil-legislation/
Vega Biofuels to produce bio-coal using industrial hemp as feedstock
EBR Staff Writer
Vega Biofuels has partnered with Vencor International to produce green energy bio-coal using industrial hemp as feedstock.
The company currently produces bio-coal, a green energy alternative to traditional coal, using timber waste as feedstock.
With a high energy density of up to 13,000 BTUs/lb, the company’s bio-coal is said to comply with the renewable portfolio standards and renewable energy credits (RECs) in the US.
Full Article:
http://www.energy-business-review.com/news/vega-biofuels-to-produce-bio-coal-using-industrial-hemp-as-feedstock-200315-4537199
Babylon Backs Down
BY SAXON BAIRD
Attend any outdoor sound system party in Kingston and you are guaranteed to experience at least two things: loud, bass-thumping reggae and dancehall blasting from a gigantic stack of speakers, and clouds of marijuana smoke rising over the crowd. Like peanuts at a baseball game, the two go hand-in-hand, and it’s been that way for almost five decades.
While not everyone at the party is smoking, marijuana is usually easy to come by if you’re looking. Just stop one of the vendors who will be periodically walking through the crowd with 12-inch stalks, selling buds from the dried plant for $100 Jamaican dollars ($1).
Full Article:
http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2015/babylon-backs-down/
First Ever Marijuana Dental Care and Skin Care Line Rivals CBD-Based Products
Juliette Fairley
While cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are reportedly excellent painkillers, there’s a new cannabinoid on the block called cannabigerol (CBG) that has anti-inflammatory as well as anti-bacterial properties. That could lead the way formarijuana dentistry.
“It can help with gingivitis and bleeding gums,” said Dr. George Anastassov, a dentist and CEO with AXIM Biotech, a U.S. based cannabinoid company.
Full Article:
https://www.mainstreet.com/article/first-ever-marijuana-dental-care-and-skin-care-line-rivals-cbd-based-products
Pot for pets: Nevada state senator sponsors medical marijuana bill for animals
– The Washington Times
A Democratic state senator in Nevada is sponsoring a bill that would allow pet owners to treat their sick animals with medical marijuana.
Tick Segerblom’s bill would allow veterinarians to certify when sick pets should be given cannabis to alleviate pain and suffering.
Full Article:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/mar/18/pot-pets-nevada-state-senator-sponsors-medical-mar/
Is 2015 the Year for Medical Marijuana in Texas?
by Kelsey Jukam
Kelsey Jukam
Vincent Lopez, is founder of the Patient Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics.
Timothy Dasher’s 12-year-old daughter, Felicity, has epilepsy and suffers from frequent seizures. She usually has to wear a helmet to protect her head from the sudden falls, which have bruised and broken her small body. Today she wore an enormous pink-and-white bow in her hair as she and her father stood with dozens of activists at the Capitol in support of legislation that would allow Texans to legally access medical marijuana.
Dasher and other activists are getting behind House Bill 3785, and its companion Senate Bill 1839, legislation giving patients who have a doctor’s recommendation to acquire and use marijuana. Proponents of the legislation say that medical marijuana has many of the same treatment benefits as prescription medications without as many of the harmful side-effects.
Dasher says his daughter tried 15 different pharmaceutical drugs over 10 years to try to stop the seizures. None of them worked, he said. If anything, they seemed to make the condition worse. But when the family moved to Colorado, and started using medical marijuana. “We found her miracle,” he said. He hopes that medical marijuana will be legalized this session, so they don’t have to leave their Granbury home again.
Rep. Marisa Marquez (D-El Paso), author of HB 3785, said in a press conference this afternoon that Texas needs to take a “scientific and reasoned approach” to medical marijuana, and allow patients and doctors to choose their best treatment plan.
“The support we see here today is a clear indication that the Legislature needs to take the suffering of these Texans seriously,” Marquez said.
Full Article:
http://www.texasobserver.org/is-2015-the-year-for-medical-marijuana-in-texas/
Dasher and other activists are getting behind House Bill 3785, and its companion Senate Bill 1839, legislation giving patients who have a doctor’s recommendation to acquire and use marijuana. Proponents of the legislation say that medical marijuana has many of the same treatment benefits as prescription medications without as many of the harmful side-effects.
Dasher says his daughter tried 15 different pharmaceutical drugs over 10 years to try to stop the seizures. None of them worked, he said. If anything, they seemed to make the condition worse. But when the family moved to Colorado, and started using medical marijuana. “We found her miracle,” he said. He hopes that medical marijuana will be legalized this session, so they don’t have to leave their Granbury home again.
Rep. Marisa Marquez (D-El Paso), author of HB 3785, said in a press conference this afternoon that Texas needs to take a “scientific and reasoned approach” to medical marijuana, and allow patients and doctors to choose their best treatment plan.
“The support we see here today is a clear indication that the Legislature needs to take the suffering of these Texans seriously,” Marquez said.
Full Article:
http://www.texasobserver.org/is-2015-the-year-for-medical-marijuana-in-texas/